User blog:VRRROOM/NFSS Advanced Car Telemetry
Change the way you Drive The Extreme Dream – NFSS CAR TELEMETRY It’s only a matter of time before the exploits are posted which spoil these driving simulators – I have played GRID, NFS series including half of Shift, PGR and Colin McRae series. In my opinion Shift is a little on the arcade side if you don’t use the higher difficulties. It is a good game but highly unforgiving for those who want something challenging at the extreme end, which makes it my pick of the racers at present. GRID is a pussycat compared but still has a realistic appeal to the simulated driving experience. PGR is for arcade addicts – with its point scoring system there too many distractions to really harness the concentration for pure adrenaline racing. Mc Rea’s DIRT 2 is still a work in progress and has come a long way for off-road skill, luck and mayhem. It’s a worthwhile collector for the off-road fanatic. If you want to race go online to experience the skills of other drivers. The true aspect of racing is you and the car versus the terrain and the opponent. It is not about winning, though it is important to try. The true aspect of racing is to practice skills, improve, race events which improve the skill, and develop your style to challenge your opponent. You can learn from other drivers or by watching a re-run of an online race and following the winning car’s line. Camera shots behind can teach you about braking distance and corner entry –apex and exit point. It is important to practice smooth driving and avoid hitting cars from behind. It’s ok to side-swipe them and cut them off, but not deliberately run them off the road. The other aspect of NFSS is the car setup. There is a degree of difficulty in planning the correct setup of your car for events. Unfortunately NFSS has not gone to the extent of having a save folder where you can keep car telemetry stored (it would have been nice). Telemetry is important to make your car more stable when going fast. It also helps in cornering, acceleration in a rolling start, and braking distance. There is a lot to be learned in setting up springs and cushioning the shock out of your car as it rides over a surface. Getting this just right will balance the ratio of grip and speed your car has on the track at any given time. As a basic guideline for spring the following should help you to develop some skill: on-power means acceleration; off-power means coasting; braking/on-power means drifting or handbrake turn controlled; braking off-power means entering a corner forward. Setups for spring reaction will also make your car over-steer and under-steer which can be easily adjusted with one setting in the telemetry. If the car is too loose entering corners (on-power) change – (1)stiffen front springs and or soften rear springs. On-power improved overall. Off-power less effective when braking hard, means you will slide off the driving line. Segmented braking earlier improves follow through of cornering angle but is a skill to achieve. Use segmented acceleration from the apex forward. Harsh and erratic driving is unforgiving. Hard stabilizers with this spring rating is good for drag racing or oval track where there is no hard apex. Car pushes when entering the corner (off-power) Means that car is too stiff and cornering is forcing the car in a straight line. Change -(2)soften front springs and stiffen rear springs. Good for drag racing or oval track where there is no hard apex. It is best to start with front spring adjustment then test before changing rear springs. Do not make the rear the same as the front – I’d suggest that if you are very close to an even pressure make the back a bit stiffer. This will allow the car to corner more easily. However the back can slide out on-power. Good for drifting which you will need in NFSS. Car pushes when exiting a corner (on-power) Car transfers too much weight to rear on acceleration out of corner causing drift or CRASH. Front tire loose grip and tracking. Off-power will not fix. Change –(3)stiffen the rear springs or soften the front springs and test. Do not change both settings in the same test. You will need to write down the test results on a logbook to work out the best setup for individual tracks. This is the difficult end of telemetry setup and requires practicing situations to check for the correct balance in the car you are driving. Advanced Telemetry – Car pushes mid-corner while neutral power This requires upgrade of tires and level 2 weight reductions as minimum. Your car has all the engine upgrades in level 2-4. Change -(4)stiffen the rear springs and soften front springs. Stiffen rear stabilizer. Reduce rear down force – make front slightly more than rear (end test scenario). Front springs need to have tracking ability through corner to allow for car roll at apex and camber of track on entry and exit points. If too much weight is transferred to roll, the inside tires lose grip. Al tight track will require softer front and rear at medium. Doing this will make the car feel loose, and to correct you will need to adjust the acceleration and steering to over-steer. Advanced Telemetry – Car is too loose in mid-corner while neutral power Change –(5)stiffen the front springs or soften the rear springs. Not both. If you have done the above scenario then a small adjustment is only required to get the car tracking correctly. Down-force is only useful for going slower. However, not enough - you may as well be a fighter jet. You are not able to change the spring rating in NFSS. This above is designed for a dune buggy which uses neutral rated spring sets all round. Traction is variable for the dune buggy so using this setup as I have is very rewarding if you want the best from driving experience. Starting at neutral rating on each car will allow you develop a rating for every track type in all your NFSS cars. There is no cheat method for this setup – My only advice is that you keep your settings to yourself so the competition is worthwhile. Your effort is your own reward. VRRROOM 10.07.2009 Category:Blog posts